Bulk File Download – 19,891 Pages in 1,485 Documents

Download the December 15, 2021, (SEARCHABLE .pdf files) Release:

[jfk2021.zip 1.4GB (right click – press save as)

or Browse The Files Individually]

Complete Document Index

Here is a complete document index for the release. Starting from an Excel spreadsheet created by NARA, The Black Vault formatted the list to a PDF, complete with clickable links to go directly to the document download.

To view, it is recommended you zoom in with your PDF reader. Although upon opening it may look very tiny, the text will be perfectly readable when zooming in.

[ jfk2021-index.pdf 1.31MB]

The following was released by the National Archives and Records Administration. It is archived here for research purposes, and this archive will be updated to offer its own archived downloads. For now, the new release will need to be downloaded FROM NARA DIRECTLY, one document at a time. The Black Vault aims to change the accessibility of the 1,491 documents just released to have a better, easier, format for downloading and searching.

Original Press Release

WASHINGTON, December 15, 2021 – In accordance with President Biden’s directive of October 22, 2021, the National Archives today posted 1,491 documents subject to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (JFK Act).  Released documents are available for download.

The John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, established by the National Archives in November 1992, consists of approximately five million pages. The vast majority of the collection has been publicly available without restrictions on access since the late 1990s. As permitted by the JFK Act, agencies appealed to the President to continue postponement of certain information beyond October 22, 2021. The President provided agencies with a temporary certification until December 15, 2022, to allow for a review of all documents withheld in full or in part under section 5 of the JFK Act and directed agencies to “to ensure that the United States Government maximizes transparency, disclosing all information in records concerning the assassination, except when the strongest possible reasons counsel otherwise.”

As of December 15, 2021, all documents subject to section 5 of the JFK Act have been released in full or in part. No documents subject to section 5 of the JFK Act remain withheld in full. Over the next year, the National Archives and the agencies proposing continued postponement of more than 14,000 previously withheld documents will be conducting an intensive review of each remaining section 5 redaction to ensure that the United States Government maximizes transparency. Any information currently withheld from public disclosure that agencies do not propose for continued postponement beyond December 15, 2022, will be released to the public on that date.

The post National Archives Releases New Group of JFK Assassination Documents, December 2021 Release first appeared on The Black Vault.

From February 5, 1993, until January 10, 1995, Amb. R. James Woolsey headed the nation’s most secretive spy agency. As Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Amb. Woolsey would oversee some of the nation’s most closely guarded secrets, and while doing so, likely had his finger on the pulse of all things classified. And now, two and a half decades after serving in that post, he sits down with The Black Vault for a candid discussion about the JFK Assassination and UFOs.

My interview with former CIA Director James Woolsey was fun, informative, and took some unexpected turns!#UFOs was not our main focus, but I couldn’t let him go without asking. And it turned into a great exchange packed with a few surprises.

Here’s a sample. See you tonight! pic.twitter.com/J8pykDXuy5

— T̷h̷e̷ ̷B̷l̷a̷c̷k̷ ̷V̷a̷u̷l̷t̷ (@blackvaultcom) April 2, 2021

In February, Amb. Woolsey released a book with co-author Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former Romanian acting spy chief who defected to America in 1978, entitled Operation Dragon: Inside the Kremlin’s Secret War on America. The duo focuses on the Cold War, Soviet Union, and the JFK Assassination. Amb. Woolsey agreed to a video interview, which premieres tonight on YouTube at 6:00p Pacific / 9:00p Eastern. During that discussion, Amb. Woolsey went into detail about the origins of his book, and lays out some of the groundwork to show that the assassination of JFK was likely orchestrated by Nikita Khrushchev, and that Lee Harvey Oswald, as trained by the KGB, carried it out.

The interview took an interesting turn when the topic of UFOs came up. Although the original plan for the interview was only to ask a question or two at the end of the interview, it turned into a brief, but fascinating, back-and-forth discussion in the middle of the discussion about the topic.

“There was one case in which a friend of mine was able to have his aircraft stop at 40,000ft or so and not continue operating as a normal aircraft,” Amb. Woolsey explained while recounting one UFO encounter he was aware of.

And based on what Amb. Woolsey has seen, the evidence has made him alter his thinking about the UFO phenomenon.

“I’m not as skeptical as I was a few years ago, to put it mildly. But something is going on that is surprising to a series of intelligent aircraft, experienced pilots,” he said. “And we will just have to see what it is.”

The post Former CIA Director James Woolsey Talks JFK Assassination & UFOs first appeared on The Black Vault.

Remember this tweet by President Donald J. Trump posted on October 21, 2017?

Everyone was hopeful that this meant the end to the secrecy behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

However, on April 26, 2018, despite his promise — President Trump signed the below memorandum for the heads of various Executive Departments and Agencies.  In short, it authorized agencies to continue to withhold information, and President Trump also extended the release of additional information for another 3 1/2 years – October 26, 2021.

Although he demands review of the information, and for it to be released if it no longer warrants withholding, his action authorizes agencies to continue to redact and refuse to release the information he promised in October of 2017.

One can only assume, based on his tweet above, “Subject to the receipt of further information…” what “further information” President Trump received to extend his deadline, and authorize the redactions to hold.

President Trump’s memorandum can be read below and the JFK Assassination Document Collection can be found here:

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Certification for Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

As I explained in my temporary certification of October 26, 2017, the American people expect their Government to provide as much access as possible to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records (records) so that they may — as they deserve — finally be fully informed about all aspects of this pivotal event.  Over the past 180 days, executive departments and agencies (agencies) have reviewed all of the information within records temporarily withheld from release and have proposed to the Archivist of the United States (Archivist) that certain information should continue to be redacted because of identifiable national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns.  The Archivist has reviewed the information agencies proposed to withhold and believes the proposals are consistent with the standard of section 5(g)(2)(D) of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note) (the “Act”).

I agree with the Archivist’s recommendation that the continued withholdings are necessary to protect against identifiable harm to national security, law enforcement, or foreign affairs that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure.  I am also ordering agencies to re-review each of those redactions over the next 3 years.  At any time during that review period, and no later than the end of that period, agencies shall disclose information that no longer warrants continued withholding.

Accordingly, by the authority vested in me as President and Commander in Chief by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby certify that all information within records that agencies have proposed for continued postponement under section 5(g)(2)(D) of the Act shall be withheld from full public disclosure until no later than October 26, 2021.

Any agency that seeks further postponement beyond this certification shall take note of the findings of the Act, which state, among other things, that “only in the rarest cases is there any legitimate need for continued protection of such records.”  The need for continued protection can only grow weaker with the passage of time from this congressional finding.  Any agency that seeks further postponement beyond October 26, 2021, shall, no later than April 26, 2021, identify to the Archivist the specific basis for concluding that records (or portions of records) satisfy the standard for continued postponement under section 5(g)(2)(D) of the Act.  Thereafter, the Archivist shall recommend to the President, no later than September 26, 2021, whether continued withholding from public disclosure of the identified records is warranted after October 26, 2021.

The Archivist is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

DONALD J. TRUMP

The post Certification for Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Signed by President Donald Trump, 26 April 2018 first appeared on The Black Vault.